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Costa Rica | Dec 17 - Dec 27, 2023

We arrived after midnight and checking in was made quick and easy. Rooms are very spacious and were equipped with a microwave, hot plate and and (very loud) refrigerator, that we ended up unplugging during the night. Woke up to a gorgeous ocean view and lots of monkeys - their slogan is "more monkeys than people :-) Breakfast with a view was great - service very friendly and attentive. Beach is in walking distance - maybe 7 minutes - but downhill - keep that in mind for the way back up. Pool was refreshing. Proximity to Manuel Antonio was great and Quepos was also not too far. Would stay there again.

Great stay, conveniently located between Fortuna and Arenal. Each room was its own little garden house, with a covered terrace, A/C, and a large bathroom. Not a lot of daylight in the rooms and somewhat damp feeling (comes with the territory of the location), which made drying clothes a bit challenging. Pool was great, but a but chilly (kids and teens didn't mind). Breakfast buffet in the morning was great with many choices.

This was our least favorite hotel - it seemed a bit dated and the breakfast buffet was just OK. Bathrooms were large, but didn't have spaces to put anything. Bedrooms were very generous in size. Situated on a very steep hill which made for good views of the sunsets. Staff was very friendly and helpful.

Stayed here for the last night - rooms were a good size and comfortable. Pool was on the cool side which is probably great on warm days, but it rained while we were there. Dinner food choices were definitely more targeted to international travelers, which while tasty, was a bit disappointing. Not much local fare (not even Patacones) Next time I would probably opt to head downtown and get dinner there. Breakfast was tasty. Great views of the volcano and downtown San Jose.

This activity was mostly booked for the young adults in the group and they had a blast, from the kayaking to the snorkeling. While I didn't do the snorkeling part (long story, but has to do with glasses...) I did go into the warm water and our guide gave me a small piece of pineapple. All of a sudden I was surrounded by small blue and yellow fish that were eating that piece. Our guide also made sure that we got to the snorkeling spot before all the larger catamarans would arrive so that we actually had that area mostly to ourselves for a while, which was great. Enjoyed a quick picnic of fresh pineapple and watermelon and water on a small beach and made our way back. Our guide did tell us a lot about the local birds that we could spot from the water - very informative

Our guide was great - we had a small group of 8 people and he made the slow walk/hike "through his office" very interesting. It was great to see that the guides from the different groups worked together as far as communicating where animals had been spotted. He helped with getting great pictures also - through that special telespcope most guides seem to be using today.

It was nice to hang out in the warm waters. Drinks are delivered to you in the pool - until a certain time. It was not crowded (evening). Included buffet style dinner was OK. We didn't spend all of the allotted time there. I think 2-3 hours is sufficient

It was very rainy that morning, but we still had a great time on the ziplines. It does take some patience before you get up the mountain as they can only transport a certain number of people at the same time. But it was worth the wait. We usually do not opt in for pics taken during these types of activities ,but this time it was definitely worth it as they captured all four of us a lot better than we could have with our phone cameras. Our walk through the rainforest was a bit impacted by very strong rains at times, which affected not only visibility but also the animals (or the lack thereof) . Our guide definitely tried to make up for it. He spotted quite a few different snakes in trees, that again we would have missed without him for sure. While a hike down to the waterfall was not part of the program he chose to include it to make up for the lack of animal sightings which we very much appreciated. He knew his stuff and still turned the walk into a memorable experience.

It felt a bit touristy in the beginning, as there were a lot of people. They do split up into smaller groups (~20) which then made it better. Our guide was fabulous. By the end of the tour he knew the majority of all our names and he was very engaging and knowledgeable. Following the "lifecycle" of a cocoa bean - including eating it at the end - was great. And learning more about coffee and sugar cane was also very interesting.

Andy (Andres) met us at the hotel in the morning and we all went to the park together - him on a motorcycle, us in a taxi. Worked out great! It's a very popular park and they only let in a certain number of people which meant we had to wait for maybe 45 minutes before we could get in . We spent that time drinking delicious coffee and learning about the local hummingbirds. Once we were able to get in our guide heard from other guides that no one had had a successful sighting of the famous Quetzal so far. We tried our luck in the known spots, but it didn't look good. As we marched off Andy heard the tale tell sign and we immediately started running towards the landing spot (tree). He spotted the bird after a short while and helped us get some great pictures. He is super knowledgeable about all things Monteverde and a great photographer. We ended up spending more time with him than originally planned and enjoyed it a lot.